


Experiment 002

by InterNutter



Series: When We Were New [2]
Category: Steam Powered Giraffe
Genre: Fluff, Gen, WAFF, baby robots
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-04-07
Updated: 2014-04-07
Packaged: 2018-01-18 11:34:30
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,986
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1426966
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/InterNutter/pseuds/InterNutter
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The Spine's very first impressions of life and living are drastically different.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Experiment 002

  
Disclaimer: Steam Powered Giraffe belongs to the Bennetts. I just pull this stuff out of my butt.

Experiment 002

InterNutter

  Click.  
  Sounds. Voices. Talking.  
  "That water in his boiler has to start boiling before you can expect anything."  
  Feeling. Feeling things that were not-it. Belonging to Other. Feeling... happy. Yes. When it was scared and unsure.  
  Movement. It could move. It could move... head. Yes. It straightened head. Worked on eyes. Wanted to see.  
  Eyes... open.  
  It saw.  
  Light. Movement. Shapes.  
  Other.  
  A... machine. Yes. A machine like itself.  
  So much new. So... frightening. Yes.  
  "Hello Brother," said Other. "I Rabbit."  
  It got the impression it had to say something in return. It readied... voice. Yes. It knew words. It wanted to say, 'Pleased to meet you'. But the minute it opened its mouth to speak, different air came out in big, white clouds. And something liquid blocked his... tongue. Yes. Blocked his tongue and made the sound come out in a funny bubble that sounded like, "...awk...?"  
  The next thing it knew, there was something obstructing its vision.  
  "I clean new brother! Rabbit good brother!"  
  The other voice. "Let me see, Rabbit."  
  The obstruction moved away and it could see a different thing of the same shape as Other. This one, it could not feel. This one was... creator. Other called it... 'Pappy'. Yes.  
  Want happy Pappy. Want be good.  
  There was a noise. Music. It sounded like, "[Hello. Hello. Can you hear me? Hello. Can you understand? Can you understand this?][1]"  
  Other-brother sang back. "[Sure I understand. Don't you want to talk?]"  
  "[Self... talks,]" it offered.  
  Brother made a noise with its hands... clap. Yes. It had no arms to clap with. Nor legs to do... jump. Yes. To do jump with.  
  Oh no. It was flawed. Pappy and brother would not want him.  
  But brother was already singing to him. "[This me! Rabbit! Big brother. You sing?]" Brother-Rabbit made the good face. Smile. Yes. It did not feel Smile at the moment.  
  "[Self... sing,]" it admitted. It was feeling... scared. That was bad. It could feel brother-Rabbit's... happy. Happiness. Yes. But it felt like a far and distant thing... echo. Yes. An echo of Happy.  
  But the fluid... oil. Yes. The oil still leaked whenever it opened its mouth to speak and the stained air flowed too freely and it knew it was hot. Too hot.  
  It was wrong.  
  Wrong was bad.  
  And it didn't want to be wrong.  
  "[You no feel bad,]" said brother-Rabbit. "[You watch. Pappy fix.]"  
  "[Pappy?]" It thought the strange, pale not-it and not-brother was Pappy. Maybe it was wrong.  
  Brother-Rabbit did... pat. Yes. Did pat on the pale stranger. "[This Pappy. Pappy make me. Pappy make you. I help!]"  
  Pappy. Yes. Pappy came back up, tools in hand. "Are you... talking to each other?"  
  Oh no. Pappy was mad. Had to be mad at broken, wrong machine. "Self... apologise," it managed. There was more and more and *more* stained air. It was making too much. Didn't know how to stop it. "Self not know is wrong."  
  "Not wrong. Wonderful! This is astonishing! Instant manifestation of independent language... it's nearly miraculous." Pappy moved fast and far away. Was it... lie? It hoped not. "Rabbit - when you made noises to the clocks..."  
  "I try talk to them," said brother-Rabbit. "They no talk back."  
  It watched the thing in Pappy's hand... pencil. Yes. It watched pencil move in odd ways. Making... writing. Yes. Pappy was making writing. "And Zero Zero Two?"  
  Who? It blinked.  
  "[That's you]," said brother-Rabbit.  
  Oh. It was so unsure it had the right words. And picked through them very carefully. "Self... hear sound." Accurate. Continue. "Self hear brother... Rabbit." Accurate. Continue. "Self... follow." Best fit. Move on. "Self know sound is for speaking." Accurate. Done. Yes. Except... "Is self in error?"  
  The pencil in his hands still did writing. "Not at all. Not at all! You used your knowledge of music to create a language! Amazing! Astounding!" His... teeth. Yes. His teeth showed as he spoke and wrote.  
  Was this bad or good?  
  "[Pappy do 'smile',]" brother-Rabbit chirped. "[Smile is good. Is feel Hug.]"  
  It felt like it was on the brink of something enormous. Something... astonishing. Yes. "[What is hug?]"  
  Brother-Rabbit went stiff. Straight up and down. His... Yes. His eyes glowed. He did really big smile. "Pappy?" said brother-Rabbit. "Rabbit show 'hug' for brother?"  
  Now Pappy was looking only at his... papers. Yes. "Yes, you shouldn't harm him at all."  
  The next thing it knew, there was a brother wrapped around him and making his own stained air and it felt...  
  Nice.  
  Yes.  
  "This hug. This best!"  
  It knew the stained air was bad. "Brother no hurt?"  
  "No hurt," brother-Rabbit rubbed... his. Yes. Rubbed his copper cheek against its shoulder. "Is good feel. You feel?"  
  It closed its eyes so that it didn't have to look at the stained air. Leaned its head against brother-Rabbit's own. Felt the fear and the doubt and the worry all vanish away. Felt a smile forming on its face despite the constant slow leak of oil. "Self... feel... good," it said. Brother-Rabbit was so right! Hug *was* best.  
  Pappy came back. With a... canteen. "Here. You're loosing a lot of steam. Drink."  
  Drink was basic program. It opened mouth and tilted head back and took in as much water as it could hold. That felt... good. Yes. But not as good as hug.  
  Pappy got brother-Rabbit out of hug so he could get into its chest.  
  "Sad," it whimpered. "Self like hug."  
  "I understand," said Pappy. "You just have a little problem with your boiler I'm trying to fix."  
  "Rabbit add arm?" said brother-Rabbit. "Then I hold hand. Keep brother feel safe."  
  "...both need inhibitors," Pappy mumbled. He tried to push the... slab. Yes. The slab into a flatter way. Brother-Rabbit kept holding it up. "Rabbit, it's very difficult to do this in an upright position."  
  "Don't like both feel," said Rabbit.  
  "What?"  
  "Brother lie down, I feel lie down *and* stand up," complained Rabbit. "Is feel... [wobble-unsteady]."  
  "Dizzy?" it suggested.  
  "Good brother!" Rabbit had the rag again and did clean on its chin. "Dizzy. Makes it feel dizzy. Then brother feel dizzy and dizzy go around and back and I not good at walk yet. No want fall again."  
  Pappy tweaked something wrong inside it.  
  Rabbit said, "Ow!" and clutched at his own ribs.  
  Pappy tweaked it back. "That is not possible. That is not even remotely possible." He went away again. Back to the pile of papers to rummage through them. "How can it possibly..."  
  "[Self do bad?]" it warbled.  
  "[No. Pappy always does this when something exciting happens. This is good.]" Rabbit started to match bits of an un-attached... arm. Yes. An arm with the funny ends in his... shoulder. Yes.  
  "Rabbit, no..." said Pappy. "We need to solve the heat issues."  
  "He scared, Pappy," objected Rabbit. "And you make hug a no."  
  "Yes, you can hug him when I'm not working on him. Just... let me check my notes!"  
  "Dinner, sir?"  
  It blinked. There was someone new! Someone very different.  
  Longer... hair. Yes. Tied up in... bun. Yes. And no legs, just a long... skirt. Yes.  
  "[This is Ma,]" said Rabbit. "[She is big hug!]"  
  "Ma," it cooed. If a hug from Rabbit could make the bad feelings drain away... maybe Ma could make them go all the way away.  
  Ma set down a tray on the only clean table in the room. "Oh. There's two of them."  
  "...hug...?" it ventured.  
  "Please, Ma? He very new and scared," added Rabbit.  
  "You're barely a day old, yourself," said Ma.  
  She did not do smile. She pushed Pappy to the stuff on the tray. "Two of them? One wasn't trouble enough?"  
  Brother was not enough to keep the sad at bay. His photoreceptors flooded with oil.  
  "Miss Iris... *please* mind what you say around my automatons."  
  Ma looked at it. Covered her... Yes. Her mouth with her hand.  
  It looked away. Its bellows malfunctioned. Making sudden and erratic breaths. Gasps.  
  "Aaawww... There, there," Ma cooed. "Hush now. Ssh..." She had a rag to do clean on his face. "It's all right. It's all *right*."  
  "Self... apologies. Self wrong."  
  "Never. You're just not finished yet. And your Pappy will see to that just as soon as he finishes his dinner. Right?"  
  "There's--" glump "--complications. Heat issues. I have to fix those, of course."  
  "See?" Ma soothed. "Your Pappy will fix you up a treat. There's nothing to be afraid of."  
  Her soft voice and gentle ways made most of the afraid go away.  
  "I don't understand it," said Pappy. "In every aspect but their exteriors, they're exactly alike. I made them in tandem. They're identical. Identical." He put another lump in his mouth. Made motions with his... jaw. Yes. He was... chewing. Yes. "And they're machines. There shouldn't be any... twin resonance. It's... almost magical."  
  "And the blue stuff that makes water boil isn't?"  
  Pappy made a noise. Cleared his throat. Yes. "Quite. Yes. Purified blue matter is indeed intriguing. It does not generate heat, but inside a metal container, it can make a neighbouring metal container hot. I'm still trying to understand the physics[2]."  
  "So that's why they hum? The... blue matter?" Ma did not leave it. Kept a hand on its shoulder. Did pat with her fingers on it.  
  "A harmless side-effect," said Pappy. "Which leaves the riddle of why Rabbit is so... exuberant. While Zero Zero Two is... reluctant."  
  Fascinated by the chewing, it tried to copy the motion. And leaked oil. Which gave Ma an excuse to stay by it.  
  "Maybe this one has more reason to be nervous. After all, you already have one just like him."  
  "Yes. I remember Rabbit panicking. They're adaptive machines Miss Iris. He should... adapt."  
*  
  It had one arm. One hand. Which Rabbit held. Ma had helped Pappy put it in.  
  Now she passed tools and smiled for Pappy when Pappy wasn't looking at her.  
  This just confused the new automaton.  
  Ma made a wide-open mouth. A yawn. Yes. "Sorry, sir. I must get up in the morning. Early in the morning."  
  "Well, goodnight, then, Miss Iris," said Pappy. "I'll stay up a while longer."  
  It watched Ma as she gathered up the plates and the cups and the napkin and the tray and walked for the door.  
  And vanished!  
  Panic. Ma was *gone*.  
  "MA!" It let go of Rabbit to reach out for where she had gone. "NO!"  
  "[What's wrong?]" chirped Rabbit.  
  "[Ma gone! No Ma!]"  
  "[It's okay. Ma just walked away. She come back. She come back all the time. I seen!]"  
  "Ma!"  
  "Shoosh. Shush," said Pappy. "It's all right, now."  
  Ma peeked around the doorway. "What the devil?"  
  "Object permanence. I forgot. Sorry."  
  Another big yawn. "Rabbit had this, too?"  
  "Actually. Yes. Rabbit? Show your brother 'Peek-a-boo'."  
  Rabbit flopped the rag over its eyes. Obstructing vision. "Where brother?" The rag came away. "There brother!"  
  "Error. Self here all time."  
  Again with the rag. "Where Rabbit?"  
  "Self feel you."  
  The rag went away. "Here Rabbit," Rabbit smiled. Then put the rag back on. "Where Pappy?"  
  Dread. Accelerating terror. Until the rag went away and Pappy was right there.  
  "There Pappy." Rabbit chirped, "[Is game, see? Things no go when not see.]" Rabbit held the rag in front of his face. "Where Pappy?"  
  Oh. This is what it looked like for Rabbit. It could see Pappy and knew where he was, but Rabbit... could not.  
  Down came the rag. "There Pappy." Rabbit cleaned it again. "No be sad. No be scared. Peoples go other places."  
  It took the rag to hold over its leaking mouth. "There is other places?"  
  "Sure! I walk now! I see *world*."  
  Pappy, deep in the middle of its chest, giggled.  
  "Outside of doorway. *HALL*."  
  "...hall..." it repeated.  
  "Outside of window. Sky above. Garden below."  
  "...garden..."  
  "Yayayah. And garden got *tree*. And *flowers*. And many grass."  
  "...flowers..."  
  "Yah! Flowers is many spots of different. Pappy say, is pretty flowers."  
  Pappy muttered, "Now that *is* peculiar." Louder, he said, "Rabbit. Keep telling stories to Zero Zero Two."  
*  
  He was a he. He knew that, now. Rabbit had told him. And that he was going to get a name. He knew the story of Rabbit's name and how Ma became Ma and Pappy became Pappy. And why the sky changed tones of grey[3]. And why there was a big ball of white called 'sun' that was too bright to look at without damage. But the other blobs of white called 'clouds' were okay because they didn't make hot like 'sun' did.  
  Pappy went away to something called 'bed' and left him with one arm and a lot of water to top up his boiler.  
  Rabbit's stories could not go on forever.  
  He felt... weary. Yes. Something was happening to make the world go dark.  
  It was scary.  
  "[It's good, brother,]" warbled Rabbit. "[Is stasis. We shut down for some time. Make memories. Make... new programs. Make better us.]" Rabbit tipped the slab back down. Climbed up on there with him. Snuggled close to the arm-less side. "[I stay with you so you not be alone.]"  
  He did pat and half hug on Rabbit. "[You good brother.]"  
  And little by little, the scared went away and things cooled down and all the worry went away into a comforting darkness.  
*  
  Waking up in hug was good. Pappy coming was good too.  
  Ma coming was best.  
  He did smile for her and a more formal, "Good morning, Miss Iris." Even when he meant, _Please come hug me again? I like your hugs._  
  "Good morning, Mister Two." Ma made herself shorter, then tall again and put the tray on the little table for Pappy. "Are you going to breakfast here every morning, sir?"  
  Ma called Pappy 'sir'. And since Ma was the best, then she knew all the best things to do. Pappy had to be 'sir' too.  
  At least out loud, he was 'sir'.  
  "Hm?" Pappy looked up from the other arm. "Oh. Uh. I may take breakfast in my room on Sundays, thank you Miss Iris. Day of rest and all."  
  "And you're certain it'd be wise to leave the children unattended?" she asked.  
  "Chil--" Pappy looked at both him and Rabbit. "Oh. Hahaha. Yes. I'm moderately certain they can't get into much trouble.[4]"  
  "Hm!" Ma snorted. "Breakfast. You have the rest of the day for automatons. Did you shower?"  
  "Yes, Miss Iris."  
  "Brush your teeth?"  
  "Yes, Miss Iris."  
  "Remember the privy?"  
  "Miss Iris, there are moments when I'm certain you enjoy your daily labours entirely too much. And yes. I did 'go'. And I washed my hands."  
  "Well done, sir," she patted him on the head.  
  "I was right, you enjoy this immensely."  
  She smile wide and laughed. "It isn't often one such as I gets to be in charge of one such as you, sir. And with such liberties."  
  "Yes. Well. Remember that you must at least pretend to be a proper servant when there are any visitors."  
  Another laugh. Ma's face went dark around her cheeks. "Of course, sir. I know my place." She left Pappy's side to come closer to him. Carefully tidied up last night's oil leaks. "Feeling better, Mister Two?"  
  He laid a careful hand on her shoulder. This was not hug. Rabbit had said that they could both harm the humans with a wrong touch. Therefore, he was very careful to touch Ma. "Much better, now," he said. "Thank you."  
  Ma angled a Look at Rabbit. "You're not this polite, Rabbit. Did the Colonel forget to give you manners?"  
  "Nuh-uh. Know everything. Just no use. More fun."  
  His fingers caught on her sleeve. He had to make an effort to let her go.  
  "...please... stay?"  
  "I have duties to perform," she said.  
  Ma would come back. She was not going to vanish forever. But that didn't stop it hurting a little.  
  Rabbit took over the shoulder-patting. "[Is all right. I here.]"  
*  
  "I just *can't* unriddle it..."  
  He lay sprawled on his front while Pappy added features to his back. If felt... nice. Yes. Nice to be cared for. But he couldn't help fretting that he was wrong. That Pappy might decide to scrap him and start over with a better machine.  
  Rabbit stayed where he could see him. Ready with the rag to catch any escaping oil.  
  "[No feel sad,]" Rabbit cooed. "[Pappy fix all. Is good]"  
  "...nothing wrong with him," Pappy mumbled. "Nothing at all."  
  He lost sensation in his lower body, again. Well. The awareness that those parts were part of him, anyway. Bit by bit, the stained air escaping his mouth was going away.  
  "[Self afraid. Self not want be wrong.]"  
  "[You good brother. If Pappy no want, I sneak you away. Keep safe. Make good.]"  
  It was nice to know he was wanted. One, without a doubt, wanted him.  
  He saw Ma first, this time, and only because Rabbit was fussing over his oil leaks. "Ma!" He could not keep the relief out of his voice. For all of Rabbit's peek-a-boo, it was hard to believe that Ma didn't vanish completely when she went away. He was worried that she would walk away one time and keep going until the end of the world[5]. "You come back."  
  Ma smiled and put her tray down. "Someone has to make sure your Pappy eats."  
  "I've almost finished this," said Pappy.  
  "Sir, you eat. People need eat," he insisted.  
  Rabbit left his side to push Pappy all the way to the table. "People need eat," Rabbit echoed. "Pappy eat. Ma help Rabbit fix brother."  
  Ma did laugh. It felt warm and safe and wanted. He reached for her, but she was beyond his grasp.  
  "I'm afraid I'm not that mechanical, dear."  
  "No be afraid?" he begged at the same moment Rabbit insisted, "I no deer, I Rabbit."  
  Ma sighed at Rabbit. "Dear one... please stop that."  
  Rabbit pushed multiple experiments off a bench so he could lie down and... sulk. Yes.  
  "I'm not afraid, Mr Two. I promise. That was... something in the way of an apology. Because... I was afraid I'd be hurting your feelings - and stop writing this down, Colonel Walter!"  
  Pappy put the pencil down. Picked up his fork. Gave a rather desperate smile.  
  "Self... apologies," he managed.  
  "You have nothing to be sorry for. None of us can help how we're made." She smiled for him and did clean on his face. "That's quite the impressive array of chimneys your Pappy's put on your back. Are they helping you feel better?"  
  He had to think about that. Not seeing all the stained air made it easier to pretend that he wasn't running through water like... like... something that went through a lot of water. And that helped him feel a little less worried about it. Which helped him cool down. "Yes," he said at length. "Thank you, Ma. Miss Iris."  
  She did clean on his chin again. Smiling. "Remember, Mr Two. You *are* wanted. You *are* loved. Your Pappy wouldn't go to any of this trouble, otherwise."  
  "She's absolutely right," said Pappy. "Days old though you may be, it's still wrong to scrap you and start over. It's... almost like murdering one's own child. Unthinkable. Abhorrent. Despicable..." He shook his head and wiped his face. "I don't even want to think of it."  
  Pappy... wanted to keep him. He got... upset. Yes. Upset at the thought that he might stop. Or get replaced. He sighed stained air in relief. That felt a great deal better. It even started to feel truly good when Pappy started fixing him again.  
  "See?" said Ma. "Your Pappy already cares. Even if he doesn't say it so much." And there was a hurt in her eyes. Something he didn't understand, yet. "You're going to be just fine. Your Pappy and the two of you."  
  "Error. There... four of us."  
  Ma sighed and wrapped her arms around his neck. "Ask your Pappy about that," she whispered. And then she was gone. Tray and dinner and cup and napkin and the sensation of a cloud of sadness wrapped around her.  
  "[Pappy hurt Ma?]"  
  "[I not know,]" said Rabbit. "[Ma always sad. Not know why.]"  
  "[You ask?]" he begged. "[I not have name.]"  
  "[You has name. You is Two.]"  
  "And... done! All right. Let's try to sit you up," said Pappy.  
  There was the hook. And the chain. And Rabbit helping. And Pappy pulling him upright with the chain that connected to the hook in the back of his... neck. Yes.  
  All to pull him up into a sitting position on the slab. Held stable there with his new... thighs. Yes. Half of each leg. He wiggled them experimentally.  
  "[Good noise,]" noted Rabbit.  
  Pappy passed them the canteen. "If only I could unriddle those heat issues..." He went back to his papers. "I need to do some maths on this..."  
  His half-legs did have a good sound. One sounded different to the other. Rabbit started to play the slab by tapping his fingers. Then, when he started playing the slab, too, Rabbit played his chimneys.  
  Half a tune came into being.  
  "La da da da da," Rabbit sang. "La da da da da..."  
  Pappy didn't look up. "Rabbit, stop playing the spine."  
  "Self... The Spine?" he straightened. "Self, The Spine!"  
  "Oh no," muttered Pappy.  
  "Yayayayayayah! You is The Spine. I Rabbit. We *brothers*."  
  Pappy sighed. "At least it makes some modicum of sense. You do have a rather distinguishing feature, now."  
  The Spine smiled. This, he decided, this felt of Hug. He snatched up Rabbit to hold him and make sure.  
  Yes. Hug.  
  "[You has name,]" chirped Rabbit. "[You ask now.]"  
  "[I not want ask. You ask.]"  
  "[I no ask, you ask. Is your question.]"  
  "[I no want ask.]"  
  "[I no want ask neither!]"  
  Rabbit pushed him. The Spine pushed back.  
  "[You ask!]"  
  "[You ask!]"  
  "[*You* ask!]"  
  "[*You* ask!]"  
  "Hey! *Hey*! Stop that! STOP!" Pappy narrowly avoided their flailing elbows.  
  They stopped pushing, if only so they didn't hurt Pappy.  
  "Fighting already? For shame. Both of you."  
  Oil flooded his photoreceptors again. "Self apologies. No be mad?"  
  "I sorry, Pappy," whimpered Rabbit. He was leaking oil, too.  
  The Spine looked around for the rag. It had fallen to the floor. And both of them were trapped on the slab. It was too far down to fetch. And since Pappy was mad at them for pushing... The Spine tried to wipe the oil from his brother's face with his hands. Rabbit did the same for him.  
  "All right," Pappy retrieved the rag and helped them clean. Helped them top up their oil reserves and refill their boilers. "Now. What's this fighting all about?"  
  "Fighting?" said The Spine.  
  "I not fighting," said Rabbit. "Was... was... [trying make do]."  
  "Force."  
  "Yayah! Was trying force The Spine say question."  
  "I not want say question. Make Rabbit do."  
  "It's just a question," said Pappy. "Why don't you both ask it?"  
  The Spine reached out to hold Rabbit's hand. "Sir... uh. [I not know how ask right.]"  
  "[Just say the words,]" encouraged Rabbit.  
  "Why-how you make Ma sad?"  
  Pappy frowned at them. "I... I don't make Miss Iris sad. What are you talking about?"  
  "Ma smile when she here, Pappy," said Rabbit. "She smile big for you. Real big. Bigger than for us."  
  "She go dark," said The Spine. He drew imaginary circles with his fingers around his cheek-plates. "Here on face."  
  "Then ya do somethin'. Make it go wrong," said Rabbit.  
  "You make sad," said The Spine. "No make sad Mama." And then, because he didn't feel right ordering Pappy about, The Spine took the rag and hid under it. It wasn't enough to hide his whole self, he knew. It was barely enough to hide his face. But he felt slightly better for not having to look at Pappy's face right then and there.  
  Rabbit did pat on his shoulder. "[Brave brother. You done good.]"  
  "[Not feel brave.]"  
  He could hear Pappy wandering around the lab. Scratching notes. Shuffling papers. And lifting something from one of the no-no shelves. The Spine clung to Rabbit just to feel safer.  
  The rag went away. Pappy was holding it. He also had a framed picture of a stranger. A woman with interesting hair and goggles and a white outside like Pappy.  
  "This is a photograph of Delilah Moreau," he said. "She's the one I built you for. To impress her. To show her... I love her."  
  "...love?" he thought he knew, but he wanted to be sure.  
  "What love?" asked Rabbit.  
  "Love... is complicated. It's the feeling of joy you get when that special someone walks into the room. It's the music you find only when they speak. It's... it's wanting to spend every possible moment with that someone. Wanting to spend a lifetime feeling special because you're close to them. It's... being willing to do anything at all to see them happy."  
  Rabbit, of course, latched on to the idea. "I love Pappy!"  
  The Spine was having... doubts. Yes. "You get DelilahMoreau... You... throw out Ma?"  
  "Absolutely not. Besides, Miss Iris is my employee, and not my fiancee. She's a very useful and brave young lady, but she is not..." a sigh. "She's nothing like Delilah."  
  Something in the world outside the lab made a small noise. Much like squeak, but it sounded... sad. And it sounded a little like Ma.  
  Pappy told them all about Delilah. The curious and driven woman who defeated the expectations of her gender and held her own in a Cavulcadium filled with men. The beauty in her every expression. The grace with which she moved. The tirelessness of her quest to defeat Tuberculosis. A dangerous and ruinous disease. The articulate loquaciousness of every last one of her lectures. Most of which concerned her analysis of the tuberculoid paramecium. And the rest concerned her advances in destroying it[6].  
  Her selflessness in that battle was what earned her his own interest in her. Earned her his love. Which she had yet to show any signs of returning, despite his best efforts.  
  The clocks chimed again. Both he and Rabbit had learned to ignore them. Clocks never wanted to talk.  
  Pappy heard them and did yawn. "Ah! No wonder I was feeling so tired. I'll see you later this morning, eh? Rest up. We have science to do." He did pat on both their heads, and left.  
  The Spine had to lie on his side, because the chimneys prevented him from regaining his former pose. Rabbit found a way to snuggle up, regardless. Wrapping one of The Spine's arms around himself.  
  "[Now you keep me safe,]" he trilled. "[I keep you company.]"  
  That felt good, too. Brothers protecting brothers.  
  Stasis came to him easily, that night. Keeping Rabbit safe from a world he had never seen.  
*  
  The Spine helped Rabbit down from the slab so he could walk around it and explain things. And, when Rabbit got bored of that, he helped The Spine read the books that they could decipher. Picture books, mostly. The Spine felt a little embarrassed about being behind, but Rabbit was built first and had had more time to learn about everything.  
  Breakfast time came and went, with a brief glimpse of Miss Iris hurrying past with a tray going one way. And then an extended visit on her way back.  
  "He stayed up late with the two of you, didn't he?"  
  "What up late?" said Rabbit.  
  "Self... not mean to," said The Spine. "No be mad? Please?"  
  "Is me fault," said Rabbit. "I make... fighting. You make mad at me."  
  "Fighting, was it?" said Ma. "And what could you fight about, all of two days old?"  
  The Spine found his hands fascinating, all of a sudden. How each finger played with the other of the opposite hand. "Had question. Not want ask."  
  "Not get answer," complained Rabbit.  
  "And what was this terrible question?" she asked.  
  "How why Pappy make Ma sad?" said Rabbit.  
  The Spine peeped in alarm and hid his face with the rag again.  
  Ma just took it off again and did clean on his face. "Colonel Walter is... very dear to me. Like you two are dear to me. Only... significantly more so." A sigh. "Has your Pappy explained love to you?"  
  "Yes'm," managed The Spine.  
  "Sometimes love means letting the one you love be happy. Even if they're happy without you. And sometimes... that hurts a little more than it should."  
  There was a mighty noise in the world beyond the lab. It was... rattle. Yes. A rattle noise and Pappy singing. He did not have a good voice for singing.  
  "I found them, Miss Iris. Haha! I found them all. Every last one." He came in dragging a box on wheels. Full of... things. New and -for once- not frightening things.  
  Interesting things.  
  He leaned so far forward that he almost tipped off the slab. "What they?"  
  "Instruments!" Pappy looked so happy. "I can't wait to see what you do with them!"  
  {RUNCH!}  
  The thing Rabbit picked out of the box fell back in in a cascade of splinters.  
  Rabbit just grinned and said, "Nice noise!"  
  
[1] I vividly recall a story in Analog magazine about a super-advanced translator software that did its job too well and translated *everything* as 'Can you understand me?' and variations of such.  
[2] My headcannon: Peter Walter I accidentally discovered magnetic induction and used it to power his robots.  
[3] Pre-colour lenses, the robots see in monochrome.  
[4] Famous last words.  
[5] According to Rabbit, that would be the fence on the boundary of the Walter Estates.  
[6] Because in my headcannon, Delilah *had* that wretched disease. And it's what killed her.


End file.
